Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., said Tuesday that President Donald Trump "handled himself very well" in negotiations over immigration policy and the recent government shutdown.
"He handled himself very well during this," Cole said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" when asked if Trump's tweets and statements helped the legislative process.
"He allowed the events to unfold, they were unfolding to his advantage, the administration did everything it could to minimize the impact of the shutdown," the congressman continued.
"I give him high grades for this particular episode, so we'll see going forward. But he did what he needed to do, and he walked out the winner — not the loser."
When asked about Trump's "s***hole" comment, Cole said he "wouldn't ever excuse those kinds of comments," and that "when you take them out and start spreading them around and exacerbate the situation, you have to ask yourself whether you're being helpful or not."
Cole then slammed the bipartisan group of senators that worked on a deal for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program for not inviting members of the House to take part.
"The issue there was, in my view, you should haven't tried to end run the process," Cole said. "We had senators coming in with what they thought was a deal, but it wasn't an acceptable deal to the standpoint of the president, it would have never gotten through the House.
"Let's go back and put everybody at the negotiating table that has to sign off on this thing, not just a group of senators. I'm sorry, the Constitution demands it get through the House and demands the president sign it. So if those people are not at the table, your chances of getting a deal go down."
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